GC 2008: Grand Theft Auto IV First Look

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Rockstar shows the PC version, explains new features.

By Charles Onyett

This November PC gamers will finally get their hands on Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV, which shipped this past April for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. This time around there'll be more multiplayer features, sharper graphics, and perhaps most impressively, a replay and montage editor.

On the show floor at GC 2008 Rockstar gave a brief demo of the game, showing off a mission called "Four Leaf Clover." We won't give too much away in case you've never played it, but the basic setup involves a bank heist and an epic escape from the cops. While we weren't able to play the game, it will support both gamepad and (not surprisingly) mouse and keyboard control. The demo we were shown was played with an Xbox 360 controller.

You look much sharper on the PC, Niko.

The overall game will follow the same story as the console version, tracking protagonist Niko Bellic as he descends further into Liberty City's underworld. The nice thing about the PC version is the game will constantly be recording what's going on. So if you pull off a particularly epic car crash or string of kills, you can hit a key to get the game to pull up the last 30 seconds of gameplay either in single or multiplayer modes.

From there it's possible to edit the footage, adding filters, and fades and cut it up wherever you want. You can then take those videos and mash them together in the montage editor, then upload it to the Rockstar Social Club so the community can check it out.

Beyond that, Rockstar mentioned that there'll be better search options for matches online. So if you wanted to find servers where players were only using certain weapon types, you could set a filter for it. As far as improved visuals go, the company said 2560 x 1600 would be the maximum resolution. We'll have to wait to see how well the rest of the graphical package fares in the transition, as the build we were shown still had some rough spots.